As the value and use of information continues to increase, individuals and businesses seek additional ways to process and store information. One option available to users is information handling systems. An information handling system generally processes, compiles, stores, and/or communicates information or data for business, personal, or other purposes thereby allowing users to take advantage of the value of the information. Because technology and information handling needs and requirements vary between different users or applications, information handling systems may also vary regarding what information is handled, how the information is handled, how much information is processed, stored, or communicated, and how quickly and efficiently the information may be processed, stored, or communicated. The variations in information handling systems allow for information handling systems to be general or configured for a specific user or specific use such as financial transaction processing, airline reservations, enterprise data storage, or global communications. In addition, information handling systems may include a variety of hardware and software components that may be configured to process, store, and communicate information and may include one or more computer systems, data storage systems, and networking systems.
Information handling systems often include one or more peripheral devices. In general, a peripheral device may include an item of hardware that expands the information handling system's capability or function. Peripheral devices may include devices internal to the information handling system chassis or case, as well as devices external to the information handling system chassis or case. Peripheral devices may include, without limitation, storage devices (e.g., CD-ROM, CD-RW, CD-R, DVD-ROM, DVD-RW, DVD-R, USB storage device, tape drive, floppy disk, hard disk drive, and/or disk array controller), input devices (e.g., keyboard, pointing device, microphone, image scanner, webcam, and/or barcode reader), and/or output devices (e.g., printer, sound card, speakers, graphics card, monitor, and/or docking station).
Storage devices, such as tape drives, may be used to permanently or temporarily store data for use by an information handling system. For example, data on a hard drive of an information handling system may be archived on tape drives. The archived data may be accessed when there is a failure to the hard drive, so the data may be written by the information handling system to the tape drive at a regular interval to provide up-to-date backup data.
One common drawback of tape drives is the power consumption of a tape drive, even when the tape drive is not in use (e.g., idling or not being written to). Typically, components of the tape drive, including internal fans and other components, are electrically active during the idle state, which increases the power consumption of the system.
In a network configuration including more than one information handling system, one or more tape drives may be used to store data. Thus, power consumption concerns are further elevated in many network configurations.